Team Bookends get #SHRILL

‘Lindy West is an essential (and hilarious) voice for women. Her talent and bravery have made the Internet a place I actually want to be.’ Lena Dunham

Guardian columnist Lindy West wasn’t always loud. It’s difficult to believe she was once a nerdy, terror-stricken teen who wanted nothing more than to be invisible. Fortunately for women everywhere, along the road she found her voice – and how she found it! That cripplingly shy girl, who refused to make a sound, grew up to be one of the loudest, shrillest, most fearless feminazis on the internet, making a living speaking up for what’s right instead of what’s ‘cool’. Her memoir, SHRILL, covers everything from body shaming to internet trolls to periods. She is calling on the public to join her fight to be more #SHRILL. We decided to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and take our moment to shout and be shrill.

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I get quite #shrill when faced with weirdly idealised portrayals of motherhood, the flip side of which is the instant shredding of any parenting technique to which people disagree. We’re all doing fine people!

Alice

Feeling like a failure because I can’t have it all. While there are some women who are apparently superhuman (i.e. those monsters in magazines who wake up at 5am, run half a marathon and then jet off to their job managing a FTSE 100 company), I think it may be physically impossible for me to have a tidy apartment, a good career and some form of social life at the same time. I’m done feeling guilty about it (almost).

Fleur

Transphobia and negative attitudes towards cross-dressing. Stop acting trans people or cross-dressers are making a ‘wrong choice’. This is who they are. Why would anyone put themselves in the firing line of ignorant idiots out of choice? And if your kids want to experiment or cross-dress – let them. Don’t shame. Let them express themselves and give them the best chance of being a strong, happy and successful person.

Abbie

The assumption that because you’re passionate and enthusiastic you lack gravitas or experience. You’re not catching me in a grey skirt suit acting faux serious just to make my point heard.

Oh, and shoes for women with feet over size 8 looking like men’s work shoes. I can’t shrink my feet and I LIKE NICE SHOES. (I know that’s two but this second one just makes me so #Shrill…)

Vicky

Tampon tax… I mean come on, periods as a luxury? I’ve never known a woman to spring to the shops with glee and part with £5 every month as a ‘treat’ for themselves. It’s bad enough that more women than I care to count still feel like they have to hide their sanitary products at the bottom of a basket so passer-bys don’t see that, shock horror they are on their period, and now they want to charge us more for products that bring us no joy to begin with. I’ve got two #Shrill words for Tampon Tax but I won’t tarnish the Bookends blog with them!

Ella